Fall quarter, 2006
PROJECT PROPOSAL
1. Your Name: Selena Shissler
2. Museum Destination: The Ethnologische Museum, Berlin
3. I have chosen this museum because I have never been to an ethnological museum. I want to study a museum that is different from the type of museum I usually focus on (the art museum). I want to see how a premier ethnological museum in a major European city handles the ‘objects’ of non-European cultures. I want to see how they incoporate art in a museum of objects.
4. Preliminary research questions: Who are the individuals who decide how the museum operates? Are they doing a good job of handling what could be a very controversial concept (Europeans displaying non-Europeans)? How has the museum evolved over the past 133 years? New directions?
5. Projected Departure and Return Dates (Nov. 4-Nov 28 are the available dates): Nov. 6 - 20
6. Basic overview of your museum:
 Date founded: 1873
 Director: Prof. Dr. Viola Kˆnig
 Deputy Director: Dr. Richard Haas:
 Sponsoring body: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin?
 Nature of the collection: Non-European ethnographic objects
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Educational activities at the museum, including classes, tours, videos, interactive exhibits: The God food: Cocoa with the Maya,
Family guidance and Workshop. Concerts, first Sunday of every month. One plays everywhere! Workshop and guidance. Etc.
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Target audience of the museum: Adults, families
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Photography policy: not sure
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Sketching policy: not sure
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Website: http://www.smb.spk-berlin.de/smb/sammlungen/details.php?objID=5
6&lang=de
7. Annotated Bibliography:

Alberti, Samuel. “Objects and the Museum.” Isis 96 (2005): 559 - 571. This survey outlines a history of museums written through biographies of objects in their collections. Examines how objects become collections, their use once they reach collections, and how the public then engages with the objects. Will aid in understanding how the ethnological museum operates and how the
Ethnologische museum compares and contrasts with others.
Penny, H. Glenn. Objects of culture: ethnology and ethnographic museums in Imperial
Germany.
Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002. This book explores the appeal of ethnology in Imperial Germany and analyzes the motivations of the scientists who created the ethnographic museums. The author shows that German ethnologists were not driven by imperialist desires or an interest in legitimating putative biological or racial hierarchies. Offers a fairly extensive history of ethnology in Germany in order to have a solid foundation to work from.
Fienup-Riordan, Ann. Yup'ik elders at the Ethnologisches Museum Berlin : fieldwork turned on its head . Seattle: University of Washington Press in association with
Calista Elders Council, Bethel, Alaska, 2005. Recounts fourteen days during which the elders examined objects from the collection and described how they were made and used. Their descriptions, based on oral history and firsthand experience with similar objects, are imparted through songs, stories, and personal narratives. Will offer solid understanding of the history behind this permanent exhibition at the museum as well as perspectives that may or may not be included in the actual exhibit.
Cracks in the Mask . Dir. Frances Calvert. 1997. Videocassette. First Run/Icarus Films,
1997. Follows Torres Strait Islander chief Ephraim Bani as he travels to the museums of Europe to locate artifacts of his ancestors. Includes interviews with three museum curators who discuss the problems of museum collection policy. This will offer insight into the potentially controversial issues of an ethnological museum. The interviews will also help with preparing questions for the curators of my museum.
Findlen, Paula. “The quarrel of the ancients and moderns in the German museums.”
Museums and memory. Ed. Susan A. Crane. Stanford: Stanford U Press,
2000. The essays in this volume consider museums from personal experience and historical study, and from the memories of museum visitors, curators, and scholars. The article on German museums will offer more insight into how ethnology has evolved in Germany.
Hein, George E. Learning in the Museum . London ; New York : Routledge, 1998.
Provides a summary of current museum learning theory. Aids in understanding how visitors actually make meaning from their museum experiences. Will provide basis for evaluating how well the Ethnologische museum has done in providing knowledge to visitors.
The following questions apply to travel outside the United States.

Language: Deutsche
Your health insurance: nada
Do you have any Health Issues? nein
Do you need a passport? Yes
Your passport expiration date: applying for one, $60 to expedite!
What are the visa requirements?
Travel advisory details. Check the US State Department website for these. http://travel.state.gov/travel/travel_1744.html
Budget information (estimated)
Travel budget
Airfare: $561
Per Diem: $50
Visa fee passport fee: $97 + $60 to expedite
Art supplies: have them
Etc museum cost: 40 Euro annual pass
TOTAL: too much
$1500
What are your preliminary ideas for individual study and research?
I will (try) to conduct as many interviews as possible with the museum staff in order to find out more about the museum's history and evolution and to get any information I can about the future of the Ethnologische. I will also do a thorough and detailed analysis of how the museum is physically constructed in order to understand how well it lives up to its mission statement and what effects it has on visitors. I will document with both images (drawings and photography) and text.
What preparation does your project and trip require before your departure?
Get passport, book flight, find and book (maybe) hostel, exchange money.
Who do you need to contact before your departure?
Suzanne, friend. Will be subletting her apartment part of the time.
What other museums are located near this museum? Do any have collections that might inform your research?
So many! The Ethnologische Museum is located in the Dahlem quarter which consists of the Museum f¸r Indische Kunst (Museum of Indian Art), the Museum f¸r Ostasiatische
Kunst (Museum of East Asian Art), and the Museum Eur op‰ischer Kulturen (Museum of
European Cultures).
Any other questions or concerns?
Your typed proposal is due to seminar Friday, October 13.